


Who's Misleading Who?

by sea_of_stardust



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Angst, Gen, Post-Episode: Putting Others First - Selfishness v. Selflessness Redux | Sanders Sides, Short One Shot, and that we haven't seen in three years?, and the rest is him being insecure, mainly just Roman being himself about the events of POF, so mainly being mean to Janus, y'all remember the Mind Palace main room that got six minutes of screen time?, yeah that's here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25635100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sea_of_stardust/pseuds/sea_of_stardust
Summary: After having his world flipped upside down, Roman retreats to an old creation of his to think.(Alternatively: My interpretation on Roman's feelings post Putting Other's First, from the prince's perspective.)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 44





	Who's Misleading Who?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Back again, this time with the second and my most favorite of my current post-episode shorts. Since my previous attempt at doing another Virgil-centered fic for post-POF didn't go well (which I might be able to fix, but who knows) I decided to start fresh and try writing Roman's perspective for the first time. I'm really happy with how it came out! This takes place right after he sinks out near the end of Putting Others First.  
> This could be seen as unsympathetic Roman due to how he talks about Janus, but I decided to leave that out of tags due to it being par for how he treats Janus in the actual series. Just be aware that the slimy boi is not seen as a friend here.  
> (Side note: I hadn't found it yet when writing this, but I highly suggest listening to Tale of the Mountain by Spectral Heart while reading. It's a beautiful piece for Roman that fits the mood I was going for in this perfectly!)  
> Original Written Date: 5/2/20

Roman was inwardly breaking. 

It felt like his whole life was falling apart around him. He couldn’t stand it. He may not have been Virgil, but he liked constants, liked things the way they were. (Speaking of Virgil, where had the stormcloud been recently? It would’ve been helpful to have him around earlier.)

Roman was feeling so down that he returned to a creation of his that hadn’t been featured in a long time: The main room of the Mind Palace. It was built to help Thomas find a relaxing place to reflect and work on his issues, but had started to grow dirty and desolate with disuse. (Probably because Thomas was being tricked into thinking he could reflect and work on his issues on his own by that reptilian rapscallion.) He might as well use it, since no one else would. Plus, it was familiar, a reminder of times long past. Patton’s room without being Patton’s room.

The prince sighed, looking around the vacant space and wiping a thick layer of dust off of one of the shelves. Once, this was clean, back a long while ago. Back when they were just starting to go by their names rather then their functions (except for Virgil, his name reveal came a little bit later). Back when Patton was the happy pappy instead of sad dad. Back when Roman would use his quick-witted quips against a certain emo nightmare instead of looking past the outside to the inside like Beauty and the Beast taught him to. Back when Logan’s biggest frustration was being dragged into word association games rather than being ignored while trying to calm Thomas down through his dilemmas of doubt and depression. 

. . . Okay, not all of those changes were bad, but still! They were changes that got him to where he stood today! Which was bad!

The point was, things were so much better back then, so much . . . Simpler. It was like then, they were kids, and now they had hit those rocky, frankly terrifying teenage years. It was so much harder to steer. He’d rather stay here, with the memories of what once was than go out and face those who didn’t want him, didn’t need him, who replaced him without a second thought.

There was part of him telling him this wasn’t the solution. Telling him to remember Logan’s words (another good thing that had changed since then: the romantic side had become more tolerant of the teacher, however trying and tedious and tenacious he was) on the topic of recalling memories of times gone past. How nostalgia could inspire hope for the future, but for those who worry or are too far gone, it could have an adverse effect and cause the current situation to worsen. Roman might have been dramatic, but he was certain he wasn’t exaggerating or overreacting when saying he was just that: worried and a bit far gone. 

This place made him feel a fraction of a bit better, but . . . Standing in the corner with his colorful lamp and star-thingies behind him in the world Thomas had him create when Thomas still cared, when he was still Thomas’ hero . . . It didn’t really sink in.

It was that snake’s fault, everything was! Those devious Dark Sides and their shenanigans . . . 

He remembered when he mocked Virgil’s warning of how lying would only bring about more trouble, when he was still loved and appreciated. (Or was it a lie even then?) How that very same day, Deceit- or sorry, _Janus_ , since he was being _honest_ and _totally_ not lying about that stupid name of his- slid into his perfect life, played on his love of theater and his love of getting what he wanted, and very nearly corrupted Thomas. 

Then he popped in again, asking to give his “honest” opinion- Thomas shot him down then, why didn’t he shoot him down today?- and very nearly corrupted him again! He couldn’t let Thomas fall to the state of agreeing with one of the Dark Sides, but he wanted the same thing: for Thomas to go to the callback . . . So he made the sacrifice to make sure Thomas stayed pure. That didn’t change the fact that the liar pulled Roman along the whole time. That slimy snake had played him like the cheap kazoo he was. 

He put Thomas’ well-being before his own wants. He did what was right, he addressed how he was the issue and was open to fixing it. And what commenced? Shut down faster than an Antarctic ice-pop shop and treated like the metaphorical homeless down-on-his-luck Leslie Odom Jr. with Thomas starring as Steven Sondheim.

Roman should’ve known the self-proclaimed Lord of the Lies would be brought up again the moment Thomas mentioned making a choice with a blindfold on. Yes, it wasn’t a decision to beat someone up and rob their unconscious body, but it was a metaphor used by Dr. Trickle and Mr. Lies before. Then, he pulled Logan out of the picture before showing his half-and-half face and pushing poor Patton to the limit, roping Thomas into his slippery schemes and mauling Morality with strong words and turning him complacent. After that, no matter how hard Roman fought, he couldn’t make anyone see the truth that was rotting underneath the skin yet to be shed on that snake. No one came to the rescue when he was attacked and told he made a mistake, that he did something wrong. Then, when he called out the bananaconda using the truth they all knew about the cape-clad con artist, he was told, politely, he was wrong. Like Patton-trying-to-soften-his-words politely, which meant nicely saying he was wrong. And after that brutal snapback relating him to his evil twin that no one objected to, their silence told him the truth. That they believed Janus and wanted him there.

They had already moved on from him. His fears of not being enough came true.

Now, if there was anything Roman actually trusted Janus to do, it was to be able to sense a lie when it was told. He told Thomas that he thought he was the stupid Viner’s hero. Stuttering, his host promised that the prince of his dreams was. When glancing over to him, wordlessly asking whether it was a lie or not, the deceitful side locked eyes with the creative one, sighed, and nodded. 

Thomas had lied.

Roman would be the liar if he didn’t say he tried. He gave it his all one last time to keep Thomas from being a bad person, from keeping the twisted forces more evil than Dragon Witches out of the man’s mind. But they didn’t care. They wanted nothing to do with him. Patton tried to promise him they all still loved him, but the dreamer knew that all the words told to him at that point were lies. So, he did everyone a favor and left. Got rid of himself so they didn't have to spend the energy doing it themselves.

Sitting in the echoey silence of the vacant Mind Palace, he wondered if this is what Virgil felt like before he decided to duck out. (Quack.) This feeling of helplessness, of being a failure, a feeling so overwhelming you want to do what's best for people and that best thing is taking yourself out of the equation. I mean, it says something when the literal manifestation of hopes and dreams couldn’t look hopefully to or dream about the future. 

Maybe it was because he wasn’t needed to do that anymore.

Thomas had Logan to direct him about and keep him motivated, Virgil to be amazing and do Virgil things, Patton to keep him from falling into corrupt mannerisms, and had Janus there to do anything that Roman might have been needed for now. Clean replacement, no objection from anyone. So, if that was what they wanted, he’d let them have it.

He wouldn’t duck out. (Quack quack.) He knew from Virgil’s experience that taking a Side- especially a core Side- out of the equation wasn’t helpful to Thomas. However, he’d take a more recent page out of the same Side’s book and just not show his face, ever. I mean, he failed on his quest to save himself and failed to save Thomas, what did that say about his contributions? It wouldn’t be too bad, though. The Mind Palace had its entertainments and abilities, and if that got boring, he had his room. If they didn’t need him, he didn’t need them. They could cope, he could cope. He expected this end and yes, it came sooner and swifter than he expected, but it would be fine. He’d make it that way. He was Prince Roman, the noblest of them all, the prevailing Creativitwin, really obviously muscular and nice, the mean spleen stabbing machine, Sir Sing-a-Lot the best and most fanciful member of royalty out there . . . Oh, who was he kidding? He was a failure. 

He wasn’t a hero. Never was, never will be.

He can’t believe he ever thought he was . . .

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I'm open to hearing your comments and constructive criticism about my work. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
